The Fallen Prince: A Prince's Mistake

My Greatest Portector

After another few days, we arrived at Zulk's gates. My jaw dropped to the floor when I realised how extraordinary the kingdom was from all the other ones. With the sun's brilliant light, I saw a different set of gates. The gates were ordinary. I know it sounds weird, but normal gates for a kingdom's entrance is rare. They were simple white poles that only stretched a couple metres up, pointed edges at the tip. To each of those sides, five-foot fences circled the entire kingdom. Past that, a concrete path wide enough for several horses went so far that I couldn't see the end of it. Sania and I were standing outside the gates, the horses impatiently waiting. She walked toward the padlock and inserted a card. Like a mouth, it ate the card and then slowly pushed it out. There was a loud beep, a bright, green light at the gate's highest tip, causing the gate to open at the speed of a turtle. 'Woah. That's futuristic,' I muttered to myself.

As if they appeared out of nowhere, two men in extremely dapper suits walked toward the horses and led them into some stables. Sania waited for me to catch up to her before we walked down the path. Everywhere we looked, fields filled with fantastic families were bonding under trees, trying to protect themselves from the searing sun. I had to squint my eyes because it seemed like the sun was attracted to this one kingdom. Walking past a guy with sunglasses, I took them off his head and put them on. 'Have a great day!' he yelled after me.

'This place is weird.'

'This place is nice,' Sania corrected.

I thought about it. 'Nope, it's weird.'

She rolled her eyes. 'The people are kind and happy because they live in a beautiful kingdom separated from others.'

'Yeah, well, I only meet people who want me dead. Don't blame me if I don't think people are who they say they are – I have eternal trust issues now.'

Sania took a right. All of a sudden, we were in a completely different area. After another minute or two of walking, we were in the middle of a courtyard, a grandiose gargoyle (say that five times fast) statue inside of a grand fountain. The water inside was fabulously clean. The fountain was sitting on impeccable, freshly cut grass. We were in the centre of a circle with a diameter of fifty metres. Trees were evenly spread apart on the edges of the grass. Behind us was a large mountain. Then there was the building surrounding us. A building the colour of tea was filled with windows the size of church doors. The multiple roofs were a prism shape, and lots of spires (classic) were scattered across the roofs. 'What's with the massive building?' I asked.

'They're universities.'

'Universe-what?'

'Universities. You can learn a load of stuff like how to start a business, get a maths degree, how to fix a car.'

'Cool. Sounds boring. Do you learn how to kill people or get sword lessons?'

'No. That's murder; that's illegal.'

'Hm.'

In front of us was a set of hefty doors. After knocking on them, a woman opened the doors and took use inside. Again, a brand-new environment came out of nowhere. Like those labs that are obsessed with showing off wealth, everything was made of glass – desks, walls, stairs (they've definitely shattered at least once) and so much more. In one room, lots of people sat on chairs near fireplaces and reading books. 'The hell is happening in there?' I asked the woman as I took off my glasses.

'They're... reading?'

'Boring,' I muttered.

Next door to them, dozens of tables were occupied. People were writing on clipboards, while others sat back and seemed like they were thoroughly thinking. 'They're having meetings,' Sania explained, reading my mind.